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Introducing the new 'Pack Check'
After calls from clinicians and educators across the country for just-in-time resources to support teaching the double independent blood pack check, Pack check has been comprehensively revised, reworked, and rewritten to meet these needs.
The revised version provides consistent educational content that reinforces the fundamental principles of safe and accurate blood pack checking through a practical, hands-on, back-to-basics approach.
It's been designed for transfusion practitioners, educators, blood champions and all other healthcare professionals involved in teaching blood pack checking. The Pack check learning package supports transfusion education by building educator knowledge and providing an interactive, tangible, simulation-based learning experience.
Curious to see Pack Check in action? Take a sneak peek at the animation video, which forms part of the train-the-trainer module and supports understanding of the double independent blood pack check.
New evidence for cold-stored platelets up to 21 Days for active surgical bleeding control – The CHIPS trial
Patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) often require platelet transfusions to manage bleeding. The short shelf life of standard room-temperature platelets (RTP) restricts availability and increases risk of product wastage.
The Chilled Platelet Study (CHIPS) was a phase 3, randomised, partially blinded, storage duration-ranging trial. It sought to determine the maximum cold-storage duration, up to 21 days, for which cold-stored platelets (CSPs) are noninferior or superior in haemostatic efficacy to RTPs when transfused in actively bleeding paediatric and adult cardiac surgery patients with CPB.
The primary outcome was a haemostatic efficacy score ranging from 1 to 5, where higher values reflected greater bleeding. The noninferiority margin was 1 point. The secondary outcome was 24-hour chest tube output. Several prespecified exploratory outcomes were also measured.
Have your say in our platelet survey
Lifeblood is conducting a survey about current platelet usage and expiry and whether possible future platelet products could be useful in Australian healthcare. If you're involved with the use of platelets or inventory/stock management, it would be very helpful to hear from you.
Click below to complete the survey and simply skip through any questions that aren't relevant to your role or where the answer is unknown.
Ready for requesting lg?
Do you or your team need to set up BloodSTAR access to request immunoglobin (Ig) products? Has your role or facility changed?
The National Blood Authority’s (NBA) user tips and support materials (including short instructional videos) can streamline the process for setting up access or for changing your facility.
For guidance on how to register for BloodPortal and get user access to BloodSTAR, go to the NBA BloodSTAR user tips and support materials. A training database is also available in the BloodPortal for people to familiarise themselves with BloodSTAR. If you need to access BloodSTAR for more than one workplace, you'll need to add a new user role for each hospital or facility you practice at.
The NBA materials also include a flow chart with a simple step-by-step guide outlining the process for accessing government funded IVIg/SCIg for a patient.
You could share the below quick links with staff who need BloodSTAR access as part of their role and include them in orientation materials:
- BloodSTAR user tips and support materials | National Blood Authority
- My patient requires Ig therapy - Accessing Ig flow chart
- Fact sheet for prescribers on adjusted body weight
- Access to BloodSTAR through the BloodPortal (with link to training database)
Did you know?
- Some emergency IVIg requests for certain indications receive automatic approval if completed correctly, including after hours.
- If automatic approval is not provided for your emergency IVIg request, you need to phone Lifeblood to ensure these requests are prioritised.
If you need any other IVIg requests approved after hours, you also need to call Lifeblood.
Join us for the last Tea with the TPs of 2026!
Wednesday 4 November 11.30am-12.15pm (AEDT)
As we close out another successful year, we'll:
- reflect on the key themes and discussions from this year's forums
- share highlights and outcomes from 2026
- preview exciting new offerings from the Clinical Education Team for 2027, and
- explore upcoming opportunities to support your transfusion practice.
We'd love you to be part of the conversation as we celebrate the year that's been and look ahead to what's next.
Impact of access to pasteurised donor human milk (PDHM) on rates of necrotising enterocolitis in neonatal units in Australia
In 2018, Lifeblood commenced the establishment of a centralised milk service to provide pasteurised donor human milk (PDHM) to preterm infants in NICUs who did not have access to another source.
International studies have shown that when sufficient mother’s own milk is unavailable, the utilisation of PDHM instead of infant formula is associated with reduced necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) and improved feed tolerance in infants born < 32 weeks' and/or < 1,800 g. However, the benefits and risks of PDHM in different settings may vary.
This Australian population-based cohort study evaluated the effect of reliable PDHM supply in neonatal units caring for infants born very and extremely preterm, with respect to the proportion of infants with NEC, as well as other clinical and breastfeeding outcomes at hospital discharge.
The primary outcome was the proportion of infants born < 28 weeks' gestation who developed NEC in a time-period when NICUs were receiving Lifeblood PDHM, compared to when the NICUs were not receiving Lifeblood PDHM. NEC is a debilitating illness in preterm infants with a high risk of mortality and morbidity.
Overall, the study found that reliable access to PDHM was associated with a decreased rate of NEC and retinopathy of prematurity for infants born < 28 weeks' gestation in Australian NICUs. The authors highlight that further work is needed to ensure that PDHM is always used as part of a strategy which emphasises maternal breastfeeding and lactation support.
In case you missed it
Guidelines
ANZSBT Guidelines for Transfusion and Immunohaematology Laboratory Practice – Revised 2nd Edition now available on ANZSBT website. Changes are outlined at the start of the document.
National Health Literacy Framework
The Australian Government has developed the National Health Literacy Framework which provides a national approach to strengthening health literacy in Australia.
Publications
Current advances in 2025: A critical review of selected topics by the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB) Clinical Transfusion Medicine Committee (Transfusion, August 2026)
Jehovah’s Witness ban on accepting blood components in transfusions is lifted (BMJ, September 2026)
Australian Red Cross Lifeblood
100-154 Batman Street, West Melbourne, VIC, 3003
